Sophocles (c.496 B.C.Ŕ406 B.C.). Antigone.

The Harvard Classics. 1909Ŕ14.

Lines 1–499

Enter ANTIGONE and ISMENE

ANTIGONE ISMENE, mine own sister, dearest one;
Is there, of all the ills of Œdipus,
One left that Zeus will fail to bring on us,
While still we live? for nothing is there sad 4

Or full of woe, or base, or fraught with shame,

But I have seen it in thy woes and mine.
And now, what new decree is this they tell,
8
Our ruler has enjoined on all the state?
Know’st thou? hast heard? or is it hid from thee,
The doom of foes that comes upon thy friends?

ISM. No tidings of our friends, Antigone,

12
Painful or pleasant since that hour have come
When we, two sisters, lost our brothers twain,
In one day dying by each other’s hand.
And since in this last night the Argive host
16
Has left the field, I nothing further know,
Nor brightening fortune, nor increasing gloom.

ANTIG. That knew I well, and therefore sent for thee

Beyond the gates, that thou mayst hear alone.

20
ISM. What meanest thou? It is but all too clear
Thou broodest darkly o’er some tale of woe.

ANTIG. And does not Creon treat our brothers twain

One with the rites of burial, one with shame?
24
Eteocles, so say they, he interred
Fitly, with wonted rites, as one held meet
To pass with honour to the gloom below.
But for the corpse of Polynices, slain
28
So piteously, they say, he has proclaimed
To all the citizens, that none should give
His body burial, or bewail his fate,
But leave it still unsepulchred, unwept,
32
A prize full rich for birds that scent afar
Their sweet repast. So Creon bids, they say,
Creon the good, commanding thee and me,
Yes, me, I say, and now is coming here,
36
To make it clear to those who knew it not,
And counts the matter not a trivial thing;
But whoso does the things that he forbids,
For him, there waits within the city’s walls
The death of stoning. Thus, then, stands thy case; 40

And quickly thou wilt show, if thou art born

Of noble nature, or degenerate liv’st,
Base child of honoured parents.

44
ISM. How could I,
O daring in thy mood, in this our plight,
Or doing or undoing, aught avail?

ANTIG. Wilt thou with me share risk and toil? Look to it.
48
ISM. What risk is this? What purpose fills thy mind?

ANTIG. Wilt thou with me go forth to help the dead?

ISM.And dost thou mean to give him sepulture,

When all have been forbidden?

52
ANTIG. He is still
My brother; yes, and thine, though thou, it seems,
Wouldst fain he were not. I desert him not.

ISM. O daring one, when Creon bids thee not!

56
ANTIG. What right has he to keep me from mine own?

ISM. Ah me! remember, sister, how our sire

Perished, with hate o’erwhelmed and infamy,
From evils that he brought upon himself,
60
And with his own hand robbed himself of sight,
And how his wife and mother, both in one,
With twist and cordage, cast away her life;
And thirdly, how our brothers in one day
In suicidal conflict wrought the doom, 64

Each of the other. And we twain are left;

And think, how much more wretchedly than all
We twain shall perish, if, against the law,
We brave our sovereign’s edict and his power. 68

For this we need remember, we were born

Women; as such, not made to strive with men.
And next, that they who reign surpass in strength,
And we must bow to this, and worse than this. 72

I, then, entreating those that dwell below,

To judge me leniently, as forced to yield,
Will hearken to our rulers. Over-zeal
76
In act or word but little wisdom shows.

ANTIG. I would not ask thee. No! if thou shouldst wish

To do it, and wouldst gladly join with me.
Do what thou wilt, I go to bury him;
80
And good it were, this having done, to die.
Loved I shall be with him whom I have loved,
Guilty of holiest crime. More time have I
In which to win the favour of the dead,
84
Than that of those who live; for I shall rest
For ever there. But thou, if thus thou please,
Count as dishonoured what the Gods approve.

ISM.I do them no dishonour, but I find

88
Myself too weak to war against the state.

ANTIG. Make what excuse thou wilt, I go to rear

A grave above the brother whom I love.

ISM. Ah, wretched me! how much I fear for thee.

92
ANTIG. Fear not for me. Thine own fate guide aright.

ISM.At any rate, disclose this deed to none:

Keep it close hidden. I will hide it too.

ANTIG. Speak out! I bid thee. Silent, thou wilt be

More hateful to me than if thou shouldst tell 96

My deed to all men.

ISM. Fiery is thy mood,

Although thy deeds might chill the very blood.

100
ANTIG. I know I please the souls I seek to please.

ISM. If thou canst do it; but thy passion craves

For things impossible.

ANTIG. I’ll cease to strive

104
When strength shall fail me.

ISM. Even from the first,

It is not meet to seek what may not be.

ANTIG. If thou speak thus, my hatred wilt thou gain,

108
And rightly wilt be hated of the dead.
Leave me and my ill counsel to endure
This dreadful doom. I shall not suffer aught
So evil as a death dishonourable.

112
ISM. Go, then, if so thou wilt. Of this be sure,
Wild as thou art, thy friends must love thee still. [Exeunt.

Enter Chorus
STROPH. I
Chor. Ray of the glorious sun,
Brightest of all that ever shone on Thebes,
116
Thebes with her seven high gates,
Thou didst appear that day,
Eye of the golden dawn,
O’er Dirkè’s streams advancing,
120
Driving with quickened curb,
In haste of headlong flight,
The warrior who, in panoply of proof,
From Argos came, with shield as white as snow;
124
Who came to this our land,
Roused by the strife of tongues
That Polynices stirred;
Shrieking his shrill sharp cry,
128
The eagle hovered round,
With snow-white wing bedecked,
Begirt with myriad arms,
And flowing horsehair crests.

132
ANTISTROPH. I
He stood above our towers,
Circling, with blood-stained spears,
The portals of our gates;
He went, before he filled
136
His jaws with blood of men,
Before Hephæstus with his pitchy flame
Had seized our crown of towers.
So loud the battle din that Ares loves,
140
Was raised around his rear,
A conflict hard and stiff,
E’en for his dragon foe.
For breath of haughty speech
144
Zeus hateth evermore exceedingly;
And seeing them advance,
Exulting in the clang of golden arms,
With brandished fire he hurls them headlong down,
148
In act, upon the topmost battlement
Rushing, with eager step,
To shout out, ‘Victory!’

STROPH. II
Crashing to earth he fell,
Who came, with madman’s haste, 152

Drunken, but not with wine,

And swept o’er us with blasts,
The whirlwind blasts of hate.
156
Thus on one side they fare,
And mighty Ares, bounding in his strength,
Dashing now here, now there,
Elsewhere brought other fate.
160
For seven chief warriors at the seven gates met,
Equals with equals matched,
To Zeus, the Lord of War,
Left tribute, arms of bronze;
164
All but the hateful ones
Who, from one father and one mother sprung,
Stood wielding, hand to hand,
Their doubly pointed spears;
168
They had their doom of death,
In common, shared by both.

ANTISTROPH. II
But now, since Victory, of mightiest name,
Hath come to Thebes, of many chariots proud,
Joying and giving joy, 172

After these wars just past,

Learn ye forgetfulness,
And all night long, with dance and voice of hymns
176
Let us go round to all the shrines of Gods,
While Bacchus, making Thebes resound with shouts,
Begins the strain of joy;
But, lo! the sovereign of this land of ours,
CREON, Menœkeus’ son, 180

He, whom strange change and chances from the God

Have nobly raised to power,
Comes to us, steering on some new device;
184
For, lo! he hath convened,
By herald’s loud command,
This council of the elders of our land.